Investigating protein variants using structural calculation techniques

Abstract

Structure calculation techniques can be very useful to bridge the gap between available sequence information and structural knowledge. In order to understand the molecular mechanisms behind diseases caused by residue exchanges, knowledge about the modified structure is needed. In this chapter, we describe how energy minimizations and molecular dynamics can be useful tools in order to study the structural effects of sequence variation. With these techniques, together with investigation of other properties, it is often possible to obtain a complete picture of the effect and mechanism behind disease-causing mutations. To take this information one step further, we also describe prediction methods that can be used to judge the effects of mutations and how to evaluate these and the interplay between the protein properties. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media,LLC.